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Herbal remedy

2014-07-23 09:33 Global Times Web Editor: Li Yan
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A young girl has a sanfu patch applied to her exposed back. Sanfu patch therapy is a traditional Chinese medicinal remedy administered in the summer to mitigate the effects of illnesses common in the winter. Photo: Li Hao/GT

A young girl has a sanfu patch applied to her exposed back. Sanfu patch therapy is a traditional Chinese medicinal remedy administered in the summer to mitigate the effects of illnesses common in the winter. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Beijingers of all ages flock to hospitals and clinics that offer sanfu herbal patch therapy on July 18, the first day of the dog days of summer according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. At Dongzhimen Hospital Affiliated to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, infants and elderly alike queue in lines stretching more than 200 meters to have the remedy applied. Tao Yanrong, a staff member at the hospital, said they had received registrations for 38,000 courses of the treatment to be administered. Photos: Li Hao/GT

Beijingers of all ages flock to hospitals and clinics that offer sanfu herbal patch therapy on July 18, the first day of the "dog days" of summer according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. At Dongzhimen Hospital Affiliated to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, infants and elderly alike queue in lines stretching more than 200 meters to have the remedy applied. Tao Yanrong, a staff member at the hospital, said they had received registrations for 38,000 courses of the treatment to be administered. Photos: Li Hao/GT

Chinese turn to traditional medicine to remedy 'winter sickness' in the heat of summer

On the morning of July 18, despite the torrid rays of the sun that left the ground scorched and even the cicadas crying out in complaint, countless residents left their air-conditioned sanctuaries to make an annual pilgrimage. Wilting in the blistering heat, they queued in and outside hospitals and clinics all over Beijing, enduring as best they could while the sun continued to beat mercilessly down.

They had come for sanfu therapy, a traditional herbal remedy steeped in over 300 years of Chinese medicinal history. The treatment, it is traditionally held, can alleviate a number of respiratory illnesses and bodily aches, and is today administered in the form of a patch.

At Dongzhimen Hospital Affiliated to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, even the canteen had been requisitioned as a space for treatment to accommodate the deluge of people flooding in. Nurses acted as traffic wardens, directing patients to small, make-shift cubicles where doctors applied the herbal patches to bared backs with as much haste as their bodies would permit.

In the Chinese Lunar Almanac, sanfu refers to the hottest period of each year, which straddles mid-July to mid-August. The term has also been translated as the "dog days" of summer. This year, sanfu will last from July 18 to August 16. The herbal treatment that is named after this period is administered in nine courses spread out over the 30 days of sanfu. Each course takes 2 to 4 hours, with the first course to be administered on the first day of sanfu each year.

Guarding against the winter

"The treatment can reduce the frequency and severity of sicknesses that are common in winter," said Zhang Lishan, a qualified practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who serves as the head of the respiratory department at the Dongzhimen hospital.

The concept of health in traditional Chinese medicine is represented as an opposition between different polarities, such as yin and yang. Illness occurs when these polar opposites fall out of balance.

"Certain illnesses are aggravated in the winter because the body has a deficiency of yang," said Zhang. "During summer, yang is at its apogee. The treatment mitigates against the lack of yang in winter by borrowing from the abundance of yang in summer, thereby restoring balance."

According to Zhang, sanfu treatment can help to alleviate the symptoms of a number of respiratory diseases that are aggravated by the winter cold, including coughing, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

"Most hospitals in China use a version of the prescription recorded in Zhangshi Yitong, which is a seminal text of traditional Chinese medicine that was written in 1695," said Zhang.

"The recipe is a combination of herbs, including corydalis tuber and white mustard seed, which have the effect of warming a person's yang."

Patch me up

Cai Shurong arose at 5 am on the morning of July 18 so she could be one of the first in line to receive treatment. Cai suffers from a persistent cough that is especially bad during winter. She had made the journey to the Dongzhimen hospital all the way from her home in Huilongguan area, near the north Fifth Ring Road.

"Five minutes after the patch had been applied, I could feel a slight burning sensation on my skin," Cai said.

Cai has been coming to the hospital to get sanfu treatments every year for the past six years. Now a sanfu veteran of sorts, Cai has decided to only come to the hospital for the first course of treatments, where she will gather the necessary herbs to administer the following eight courses herself, from the comfort of her own home.

Undergoing sanfu therapy for the first time is 25-year-old architect Zheng Ruofan. Less confident in her ability to correctly administer the necessary treatments herself, she will return to the hospital for each of the required courses.

"I used to have bronchitis as a child, and I still have problems breathing easily when weather is muggy," said Zheng.

Zheng is among the growing number of young people willing to try out the traditional remedy, and even took a day's leave from work to arrive sufficiently early to the hospital. She attributes her willingness to try sanfu treatment to her parents, who have always believed in the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine.

Also trying sanfu treatment for the first time is 60-year-old Xue Yanzhen. Xue suffers from a number of respiratory diseases, which prevent her from getting a good night's sleep. She moved to Beijing from Heilongjiang Province in 2009 to help care for her granddaughter, and blames the worsening of her afflictions on the poor quality of Beijing's air.

"It's definitely related to the bad air in Beijing," she said. "These days, it's too hot to even wear a mask."

A Western view of Chinese medicine

While masses flock to sanfu therapy, there remains skepticism from Western-trained doctors and scientists as to the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine, and towards sanfu therapy in general.

Fang Zhouzi, a science writer who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, described sanfu patches as being "useless" and "unscientific." In both his public addresses and on Sina Weibo, Fang has questioned the effectiveness of the traditional remedy.

"Applying a sanfu patch in summer doesn't miraculously change someone's physiology," Fang wrote on one of his Weibo posts. "The medicine does not permeate the skin in sufficient quantities to have any effect, and even if it did, how could it possibly prevent illnesses several months later in the winter?"

"There are no reliable clinical trials showing that sanfu therapy is in any way effective. It is mere superstition, or at best, provides patients with a kind of psychological comfort."

Despite such scathing criticism, those who practice sanfu therapy swear by its effectiveness.

"My condition has improved," said Cai. "The first year I got the patches, the improvement was quite dramatic."

According to the Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration Bureau, there will be 600 hospitals and clinics providing sanfu therapy in Beijing this year.

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